No abstract

Based on hypothetical cases of ARI, community practitioners prescribed antibiotics at twice the rate of faculty following CDC practice guidelines. Practitioners were most strongly influenced by duration of illness. The effect of duration was strongest when accompanied by fever or productive cough, suggesting that these situations would be important areas for practitioner education and further clinical studies.

BackgroundPoint-of-care-ultrasound (POCUS) training is expanding in undergraduate and graduate medical education, but lack of trained faculty is a major barrier. Two strategies that may help mitigate this obstacle are interprofessional education (IPE) and near-peer teaching. The objective of this study was to evaluate a POCUS course in which diagnostic medical sonography (DMS) students served as near-peer teachers for internal medicine residents (IMR) learning to perform abdominal sonography.MethodsPrior to the IPE workshop, DMS students participated in a train-the-trainer session to practice teaching and communication skills via case-based simulation. DMS students then coached first-year IMR to perform POCUS examinations of the kidney, bladder, and gallbladder on live models. A mixed-methods evaluation of the interprofessional workshop included an objective structured clinical exam (OSCE), course evaluation, and qualitative analysis of focus group interviews.ResultsTwenty-four of 24 (100%) IMR completed the OSCE, averaging 97.7/107 points (91.3%) (SD 5.2). Course evaluations from IMR and DMS students were globally positive. Twenty three of 24 residents (96%) and 6/6 DMS students (100%) participated in focus group interviews. Qualitative analysis identified themes related to the learning environment, scanning technique, and suggestions for improvement. IMR felt the interprofessional training fostered a positive learning environment and that the experience complimented traditional faculty-led workshops. Both groups noted the importance of establishing mutual understanding of expectations and suggested future workshops have more dedicated time for DMS student demonstration of scanning technique.ConclusionAn interprofessional, near-peer workshop was an effective strategy for teaching POCUS to IMR. This approach may allow broader adoption of POCUS in medical education, especially when faculty expertise is limited.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-018-1437-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effective interprofessional practice requires interprofessional education that facilitates learners' achievement of competency in the interprofessional domains. Unfortunately, educators currently have a limited number of tools to identify the level of competency of their learners. Previous investigations by some of the authors described the initial characteristics of a tool based on the Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. Building on this work, this study describes a multi-institutional, three-part study refining this tool. The series of studies further established the validity, reliability, and usability of the assessment tool. Based on the data derived from this study, we created a shorter, more easily utilised version of the tool that retains previous psychometric strengths. This article describes a tool that consists of two domains, one linked to interprofessional interaction and one linked to interprofessional values. It is believed that this assessment tool may help educators define competence in interprofessional practice and guide assessment of both programmes and learners.

No abstract